


Hard Choices

by TheHomestuckWhovian



Series: Accidental AU [1]
Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-26
Updated: 2015-08-26
Packaged: 2018-04-17 07:32:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,749
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4657971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheHomestuckWhovian/pseuds/TheHomestuckWhovian
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being the sole remaining leader of the Homeworld isn't easy. Yellow Diamond has made unpopular decisions for the good of gem kind after the loss of her fellow leaders. Or so she thought.</p><p>Time to experiment with a regretful Yellow Diamond to make her more sympathetic.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hard Choices

Yellow Diamond didn't like her job.

She remembered the good days, where she explored the universe, having adventures on other planets. Where she didn't have the weight of a galaxy of Homeworld occupied planets to bear on her shoulders.

When Pink Diamond and Blue Diamond were around, things were easier. Their names weren't really Diamond, but the leaders were attempting to hold the position the original Diamond had had.

Yellow Diamond liked exploring, and liked history. Her favorite stories were those of the leader. She had remembered seeing the clear gem, standing in front of the thousands of gems as she declared the conquest for exploring space. Yellow Diamond's name had been different back then, but it had been so long since she hadn't been leader that her name had long since faded into oblivion. She had been a young gem then, and had volunteered to pilot the prototype ships that would eventually travel all over the galaxy.

Things had changed a lot since the true Diamond had disappeared. Her three most important generals were left to hold the Homeworld together. Space exploration was no longer a goal, but a necessity. The Homeworld didn't have sufficient resources to keep creating gems, and many gems died from malfunctions of colony ships. The occasional Kindergarten became more and more common, until there were few conquered planets that didn't have one.

Blue Diamond, always the economist and having seen the workforce drop with the continued colonization of other planets, suggested the Pearl project. They had experimented with creating gems in water, and the experiments were a success. Yellow Diamond hadn't been sure at that point, because creating an entire group of gems just to do all the dirty work seemed unfair. Pink Diamond, who back then was a gem who mostly cared about fighting, had sided with Blue Diamond and the mass production of Pearls began. Yellow Diamond felt sick as she watched more and more planets crumble from overuse thanks to the Kindergartens.

Then the rebellions started. There were accusations that the Diamond leaders had killed the original Diamond to take her leader ship. Gems were angry that their homes were being destroyed because of Kindergartens, requesting that the production of gems slow down. Blue Diamond was part of the economy, and Yellow Diamond was in charge of space exploration and the colonies, so the violent Pink Diamond and her right hand general, Jasper, were left to handle the rebellions as they pleased.

Then, Pink Diamond requested to take a break after crushing the last rebellion that they would have to worry about for thousands of years. Blue Diamond had been horribly against it, but Yellow Diamond managed to convince her fellow leader that Pink Diamond deserved it. To keep Jasper distracted, Yellow Diamond sent her to a planet with a violent species that had made setting up a Kindergarten tricky. Better to have the violent gem in the action than bored and dangerous.

During Pink Diamond's break, Yellow Diamond received a present from Blue Diamond. A gem named Sapphire. She had been taken from the Kindergarten after the discovery of her future vision. Yellow Diamond had been unsure, but eventually accepted. She gave Sapphire a nice room to herself and allowed her to go wherever she wished around the Headquarters, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Blue Diamond was starting to act off.

When Pink Diamond returned, the two other leaders couldn't recognize her at first. Her straight, sophisticated hair was now in bouncy ringlets, and her serious pink and white suit was replaced with a dress. She began making jokes, something the old Pink Diamond would never do, and acting respectful. Blue Diamond had almost had a fit, and Yellow Diamond was concerned about the formerly war focused leader going through such a massive change. The one thing about the change that she liked immediately was the fact that, instead of siding with Blue Diamond or Yellow Diamond, Pink Diamond now proposed compromises.

When Ruby had been appointed, Blue Diamond had to be held back by Yellow Diamond, who was getting increasingly stressed about Blue Diamond's condition. Besides, the Ruby was a much better general than Jasper had ever been, because she was able to keep from hurting other gems, despite her temper that was literally fiery. Yellow Diamond appointed Jasper to herself, wanting to keep an eye on the violent gem. She didn't want her unsupervised, especially with Pink Diamond's extreme change and the general that had taken her place as the right hand of the formerly belligerent leader. She didn't trust her, and she sure as heck wouldn't let her near Ruby.

She also managed to keep Blue Diamond from noticing the obvious relationship that was starting between Sapphire and Ruby. She personally felt that Blue Diamond was hanging by a thread, and she didn't know what would happen if that thread snapped.

Oh, but when it snapped, it wasn't something simple like an unorthodox gem relationship. It was when Earth came and Pink Diamond abandoned Homeworld to protect Earth, becoming Rose Quartz.

Blue Diamond didn't just break. She _changed_. The leader had apparently been hiding a small crack for a long time, but the stress of the rebellions, Pink Diamond's change, and then the pink leader changing her name and declaring Earth to be under her protection had resulted in her becoming a monster. It was Yellow Diamond herself who shattered the gem of the corrupted beast who had once been her co-leader and her friend.

She declared that Pink Diamond had been killed by the Blue Diamond, saying that the new Rose Quartz was a gem no one had known about before. It was a weak attempt to hide the truth, but no one questioned the now lone leader of the Homeworld.

Then the stress really got to her.

She had never been good with economics, or trying to fight wars. All she had ever wanted was to go into space. But now she was stuck on Homeworld, unable to decide whether to squash the rebellion or let it fall apart on its own. She sent Ruby to Earth, under the guise of trying to plan an attack, but really in an attempt to convince Rose Quartz to become Pink Diamond again, to abandon Earth and help the Homeworld. She couldn't handle being in charge by herself.

The Pearl rebellion was unexpected.

The Pearls had been working extra hard, and Yellow Diamond hadn't thought anything of it until she agreed to have Jasper take a squad down to Earth to try and keep the Lunar Sea Spire under Homeworld control.

Ruby had gone ahead to scout. Yellow Diamond had long since given up on trying to persuade Rose Quartz to become Pink Diamond again, but she continued to send Ruby on scouting missions.

The Pearls had attacked so quickly. By the time reinforcements got to Jasper, the general had been poofed and there was not a single Pearl left. The reinforcements tried to follow the Pearls to Earth, but the warp pad wouldn't work. The Pearls had destroyed it.

Yellow Diamond would get to go to space again, but she couldn't enjoy it this time. She enforced more guards around Sapphire, moving her room to a different place. They had gotten Ruby, and she didn't want them to get the last person she felt she could trust. With Ruby gone, Sapphire was the only gem she had left that she didn't feel was totally insane.

It had taken hundreds of thousands of years to get the ships running. The Pearls had effectively sabotaged the ships, the blueprints, and the weapons. The revolution had gone so quietly that they had won that battle with no casualties of the part of the Pearls, while slowing down the Homeworld immensely. It terrified her, made her paranoid that now, any gems could be traitors.

She didn't have time to apologize to Sapphire for making her imprisonment harsher. She had thought the gem understood.

When they got to Earth again, Yellow Diamond created a base near the Kindergarten. Two battles happened before she lost Sapphire, one a Homeworld victory, the other a rebel one. The gem had said there was an extremely unlikely chance she'd get found or hurt if she hid in the desert.

She and the guards never returned.

Yellow Diamond's decisions grew more and more desperate. She ordered the gathering of gem shards at the suggestion of Jasper, whose suggestion she never would have taken if the fusions that were used against Homeworld weren't so powerful. She watched the pile of gems be buried extremely deep under the Kindergarten, to fuse together in a way that made the leader sick.

She also took another gem, a gem who could control water. The gem had been on Homeworld when her abilities were discovered. She had been taken to Earth, since the planet had more water and she would be useful. She was promised the gem that if she fought this battle with her incredible abilites, she would never have to leave Homeworld again.

When the gem retreated into her gem and was cracked, Yellow Diamond imbedded her into a mirror to keep her from becoming corrupted and attacking her army. She considered it as a kindness for the Water Gem, who would never have to experience becoming a monster. The mirror later disappeared when one of the bases was taken by Rose Quartz's growing army, and she assumed that the Water Gem was gone for good.

The last time she saw Rose Quartz was as she retreated to her ships, refusing Jasper's insisting that she just kill Rose. She didn't want to fight this battle anymore. Rose Quartz was winning and there were plenty of other planets that would be worth less trouble.

They were retreating when the weapons were fired without Yellow Diamond's authorization.

She looked out at the Earth as they stopped, hovering over the beach where the battle had taken place. The dust cleared and all she saw was the glisten of gem shards dotting the sand, and the sick feeling came back.

"Jasper!" she shouted into the comm. "Get here right now."

Jasper denied everything, but the look on her face told Yellow Diamond that her suspicions were right.

"You killed thousands of gems," Yellow Diamond spat, glowering. "That wasn't a victory. That was a massacre."

"And now, no other gems will rebel, because you have made an example," Jasper said, grinning madly.

This was it. She was done.

"You are demoted. You will never be a general again. You are now a space scout, so you will go hunting for planets with the resources to support Kindergartens. If you kill anything, Gem or otherwise, I will crush your gem myself. You will have no say anymore, and you no longer have the authority to use any weapons unless it is truly for self defense. When we return to Homeworld, you will leave the headquarters and head for a scouting ship the moment you are off this ship. Now get out of my sight."

Yellow Diamond looked back out the window at the sparkling beach, sighing. She hadn't wanted this. She had never wanted this.

* * *

Thousands of years later, and Yellow Diamond decided there was one thing left on Earth that needed handling.

She got one of the new mass produced gems, a Peridot, and ordered, "You are to head to Earth. You are to account for every piece of Gem technology you can find, then you will open the file titled Cluster 295 in your database. This mission is highly classified. You are not to inform anyone of where you are going."

The Peridot nodded, and Yellow Diamond could detect some sass in the Peridot. Peridots, like Pearls, weren't supposed to have individuality, but Yellow Diamond decided not to report the defect in this one. Truthfully, it was a defective Pearl that helped Rose Quartz win the war for Earth before they were both destroyed. She couldn't say that defective gems were to be destroyed with that example in her mind.

Cluster 295 was information on the Cluster. The assignment was to check on it, to see if they could afford to leave it on Earth or should destroy it. It provided Peridot with a code that could help her summon her weapon, as Peridots were programmed to be unable to use their weapons until they used the code. She wasn't sure if a defective Peridot needed the code, but she didn't want to test that now.

It was a while later when the gem returned, requesting back up because of the presence of hostile gems on the planet.

Yellow Diamond assumed she meant corrupted gems, so she assigned Peridot with a ship equipped with gem destablizers, a weapon designed to handle gem criminals, and Jasper, who was granted this one mission but told that she was still not allowed to kill. She then decided to send the newly returned Water Gem with them, since she had been on Earth more recently than either of them.

It was a few days later that she received a transmission from Peridot.

"Peridot #1695 reporting to Yellow Diamond. Hostile gems are uncorrupted. A Pearl, status defective; an Amethyst, status irrepairably damaged; a Ruby, status unharmed; a Sapphire, status unharmed; and a Rose Quartz, status slightly damaged due to headbutt but otherwise unharmed. Water Gem confirmed to have known about their presence, and covering for one of them, and now currently imprisoned. Scout Jasper insisting we return with all prisoners. Awaiting instructions."

Rose Quartz. Ruby. Sapphire.

It took her a moment to calm herself down. She was mad, and happy too. She should have known Ruby would join Rose Quartz, and that Sapphire would follow her. She wanted to hate them, and she wanted to celebrate that they were alive. As for Rose Quartz, she was also conflicted. She wanted to be happy that some gems survived, but this was Rose Quartz. When she finally managed to relax, she sent a transmission in response.

"Peridot #1695. You are to return with prisoners as Jasper suggested, and bring them all to me. Keep them all unharmed. Do not take any of Jasper's orders without confirmation from me. You may continue you original mission after you return. If Jasper attempts to cause anymore damage to any of the prisoners, use the gem destablizer on her and put her in a prison. Do not attempt to engage Rose Quartz. She is highly dangerous and is very capable of fighting. Yellow Diamond out."

So she waited. And waited. The ship never arrived and she didn't hear anything until a distress signal.

"Homeworld! This is Peridot! The Cluster is dangerous and the code was ineffective! Kindergarten must go into lockdown. My ship was destroyed and Rose Quartz and the other prisoners escaped. Jasper is gone, and most likely compromised. Send..." The sound shut off.

The Cluster was dangerous. She should have expected this. She regretted ever listening to Jasper, because now she had to deal with this.

She had given Peridot her fastest ship, but she wasn't eager to go to Earth. She slowly prepared to head there, getting her slowest ship and slowly gathering a small army. She didn't know how many gems she would need to handle the Cluster. The Cluster was her priority. Her original plan was to let Rose have Earth and she wasn't going to engage her. She would destroy the Cluster and head back to Homeworld.

She was tired, and she was old. She had long since stopped hoping for Diamond to come back, and long since stopped hoping to go back to her exploring. She was all that was left of the Diamond leaders, and it was her job to keep all gems under her rule safe. If that meant going up against the Cluster, she would do that.

She had so many regrets, and so many things she wished she had done. She was imprisoned in her role as leader.

It was in moments like these that she wished she had left that role like Pink Diamond had. That she had just stolen a ship and flown away, exploring the stars once more without concerns like the economy or how to fight a war. But she was all Homeworld had left, so she stayed.

Being a leader meant she had to make hard choices, and she had already made enough to become bitter.

**Author's Note:**

> So...yeah.
> 
> By the way, Yellow Diamond's original name in my mind is Topaz.


End file.
